Trump adds the Murdochs to the list of billionaires involved in TikTok purchase

Garnering a weary “cool, cool, cool,” from those concerned about the rapid media consolidation over the last few weeks, President Donald Trump announced Fox News owner Lachlan Murdoch is part of the billionaire consortium looking to purchase TikTok, per The Hollywood Reporter. After Trump delayed the congressionally approved TikTok ban for a fourth time last week, he hinted at some of the suitors involved in the sale. The group includes Oracle owner and occasional world’s richest man, Larry Ellison, whose son David recently acquired Paramount-CBS and installed a conservative ombudsman to monitor CBS News for bias, and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, owned by Trump super donors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Murdoch’s participation should give TikTokers unfamiliar with these other names a fuller picture of who will run the country’s most addictive and popular social media app. “I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved,” Trump told Fox News’ Steve Doocey. “You know who Lachlan is? It’s a very unusual name, Lachlan Murdoch.”